Your next trip ... how about I ride along and read to you?!!

http://www.audible.com/pd/Kids/Cheechako-Audiobook/B00C2ZZZ6K/ref=a_search_c4_1_2_srTtl?qid=1478716602&sr=1-2

One easy trick to change a child's life ... no, really!

"One easy trick ... sure." 

You see this one easy trick thing, all the time. It's usually a lie, or they want to sell you something. But I promise you, this is the real deal.

We all want the best for our children or grand children. And many of us not only want the best, we're willing to participate to get it. 

Often that means buying something, and grandparents especially, with a bit of disposable income, are experts. 

But you can't buy this. 

Okay, I suppose you could, but why would you? Would you really hire someone to read aloud to your kids? It's best when you do it yourself. 

There are lots of reasons to read, not just to a toddler, but all the way up to grade 8. I won't go into all of them here because I want to keep this short. But here is what's critical.

Reading aloud changes lives.

This is the important part, borrowed from a site called "Reach Out & Read." 

"Research shows that the more words parents use when speaking to an 8-month-old, the greater the size of the child's vocabulary at age 3."*

And here's the chiller:  

"Children from low-income families hear as many as 30 million FEWER words than their more affluent peers before the age of 4." 

So yes, they arrive at kindergarten already behind. 

The easiest way to let children hear more words is to read them. The more the better. Some parents start reading to the child in the womb. 

What to read?

Do this search: "Best books to read aloud." You'll get a whole page of great suggestions. If money is an issue, don't be deterred. You can go to the Goodwill, St. Vinnie's or yard sales and pick up all you need for pocket change. 

One good reason not to? There isn't one. Start today.

*(Hart, B. Risley, T. Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experiences of Young American Children (1995), Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.)

Want to write? Here's the best kept secret.

People who don't write at all, will tell you this.

When you decide you're really going to do it, or when you start writing and then get stuck, someone will ALWAYS say: "Well, you should just write what you know," ... as if that's it. 

It's right, of course, but it's also not right. I can't even type the phrase without going back ... about a thousand years ... to when I was teaching junior high. I remember a student moaning ... "BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT I KNOW!" 

And that's the problem.

What you know isn't what you know. 

We get the two confused. People start thinking about things they've read or been taught. Facts and figures. There is a place for all of that in writing, but not at first. What you really know is  much more subtle. 

It's the way air smells, mingled ever so softly with scents of bacon and coffee, early in the morning. It's the way a favorite trail feels under your feet, or how your shoulders loosen and lower as you start along that trail and finally relax. Or, Emily Dickinson's "certain slant of light." 

You probably know that one yourself, a cast of light that uplifts, or completely depresses. 

Start with this: your 'eyelid movies.'

When I was in advertising, I had the great good fortune to work for Bill Hoke, long-time friend, creative director, and a gifted writer (Bill's poems.) A small aside, he's the one who contributed "cut it 'til it bleeds," to my writing vocabulary. Solid advice.

Bill talked about 'eyelid movies,' scenes you remember or imagine. When I picture a scene in one of my books, it's how I start and where I start. I put myself there and know exactly how it sounds and smells ... how it all feels. 

Those are things I know. Now it's your turn. Go ahead and  write from there. 

That's what you know. Better than anybody.